Laptop with Windows COA suddenly says windows isn't genuine

My mother-in-law gave us her laptop this year for Christmas. It's about a year old, an HP G60, and it worked fine for her before she gave it to us.

Now, seemingly out of nowhere, we're getting messages that windows 7 isn't genuine and that we might be victims of software fraud. There is a COA on the bottom of the laptop and MIL says she never got that message before, so I have no reason to doubt that the software is genuine, but for some reason MS can no longer validate it.

Windows has been re-installed, so that means we've been doing a lot of updating, and the computer was restarted immediately before the problem appeared, but I do not think it was immediately after installing a SP. I have already tried all the fixes here, but none of my settings needed to be changed. Plug and Play was already set to Not Defined, Network Service was already set to allow Full Control and Read, etc. So none of those worked.

Please someone help me with this. I've been on the phone with both Microsoft and HP. Both parties agree that my copy is genuine, but they say they can do anything to fix it. The only "solution" I've been given is to order a new recovery disk. I don't see how that would help, seeing as it recovered just fine last time until we started installing updates.

First off, I'll just say I've had this happen to my legit system, there is an update, kb971033 that "phones home" every 90 days in case your legitimate copy suddenly becomes, err.... Was going to say illegitimate, but mean illegal . Why your legit copy would run to the "dark side" and needs watching is beyond me. But there you go.

To stop kb971033 phoning home you just need to disable it in Task Manager.

Back to your problem. When you say you phoned Microsoft, was that their support desk, or when trying to activate? And just to clarify, the MIL has handed over the whole Windows kit, you're not trying to run on 2 pc's? (have to ask).

To save me a shed load of one finger typing (lazy, me!!) This is my thread at MS Answers. Pay particular attention to the answers and instructions by Noel D Paton. He's the guy who helped me out. In fact, I'd go as far as suggesting that you may want to PM him, nice fella. I especially like his comment:

The ways of Windows are truly inscrutable, grasshopper!

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How true!!

I'm hoping that helps you out somewhat, let us know.

EDIT!!! Read the whole thread as they move the Correct Answer to the top, you need to run through.

When you say you phoned Microsoft, was that their support desk, or when trying to activate?

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I called the help desk. The lady there had me run through the usual try-to-activate stuff, then verified the product key on the bottom of my laptop, and said she would transfer me to the virus and malware dept (??). There, I spoke with a lady who had me run through the same activation stuff, then she had me try something else, and then finally she transferred me to her manager who said he wanted to "give me realistic expectations about this problem." In other words, they didn't know how to help me. They gave me the number for HP, said they should be able to help me, gave me a case number, and left it at that.

I called the HP number they gave me. They asked for my product number and serial number, then basically said all they could do was have me buy another recovery disk. Thank-you-very-much-goodbye.

And just to clarify, the MIL has handed over the whole Windows kit, you're not trying to run on 2 pc's? (have to ask).

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MIL gave us the laptop, and that's it. No windows 7 disk, no recovery disk, etc. Now, my in-laws are immigrants, and though they're both US citizens their English isn't the best and she and FIL have definitely somehow gotten pirated copies of windows before without realizing that it was illegal (either because someone scammed them and they paid for illegal copies, or because someone convinced them that windows was free - both have happened to them). So when I first started getting this message on the laptop, I was very suspicious. That's why I made sure MIL had never gotten that message in the year she'd owned the laptop.

She and FIL wouldn't have known how to install windows on another machine (trust me), but there's an outside chance that someone else did it for them. I'll double check about that. If that's the case, the easiest solution might be for us to re-install on our machine with the extra copy of XP we have around the house and be done with it. In fact, that might end up being the best solution anyway. *sigh*

But thanks for the help. I'll definitely try these solutions first. And I'll have my husband call MIL and make sure they aren't running that copy of windows 7 on another machine. >_<

But thanks for the help. I'll definitely try these solutions first. And I'll have my husband call MIL and make sure they aren't running that copy of windows 7 on another machine. >_<

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YOu might want him to ask why they are distributing machines with counterfeit installations of Windows!

The MGADiag report shows this installation is counterfeit.

the BIOS predates Windows 7, so the machine could not possibly have been shipped with Win 7 installed.

the BIOS predates Windows 7, so the machine could not possibly have been shipped with an OEM_SLP copy of Win 7 installed. The BIOS data has a DELL SLIC table for Win 7 The Machine is a Hewlett Packard The Key is a Dell OEM_SLP Key – only valid on Dell computers. The while thing was enabled by a Loader – which was probably broken when SP1 was installed by Windows Updates.

If I'd known what I was looking for in the beginning (first time looking at a MGADiag), I would have noticed that the product key in the diagnostic report was different from the one on the back of the laptop. And it also says windows 7 ultimate, and the sticker on the back says windows 7 home. So the reason I'm getting the 'windows isn't genuine' message is... because windows isn't genuine. *sigh*

The laptop came installed with windows 7, though, that's for certain. HP confirmed that to me. Maybe the laptop was refurbished or something? But it definitely came pre-loaded with windows 7. Would installing the counterfeit windows 7 on the laptop erase the pre-installed legit copy? Or is it still there somewhere?

Either way, it looks like we're going to be spending the rest of the long weekend re-installing windows on the laptop. Fun times....

It's just barely possible that the BIOS is a valid one - the date is actually within a week of the date Win7 went RTM, so if HP had things in process, it's just about feasible. Failing that, it's certainly possible that the system was sold as Vista, with a Free Upgrade offer.

Check your COA sticker - Assuming it says WIndows 7 Home Premium, then you're OK. If it says Vista Home Premium, then you have a definite problem - you'll need to locate your Upgrade disk and Key and use that for th einstall, rather than your normal recovery disks.

A Home Premium Key will never work in a system that is running Ultimate - it simply is not valid for that OS. The chances are that your Recovery Partition has been overwritten by the counterfeit installer - if not, then use that to set the system back to ex-factory state. If the Recovery partition has been deleted, then you need to order a set of Recovery disks from HP for your system (if you don't already have a set) and use that. NOTE that doing will will delete all data and installed programs - so back up to external media first! Once you have the fresh install in, the FIRST thing you need to do, is run an MGADiag report so that we can check the results. Then you can start with the hassle of updates, and installing a decent anti-virus.

Ordering the media from Dell wouldn't be much good, seeing as the machine is an HP

The heidoc-linked downloads are fine (they are links to Digital River downloads which are the official MS download sites) - but don't contain any special drivers or software that would be included in the HP Recovery disks.